


The Others

by ice_wolf



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band), Stray Kids (Band), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Discrimination, Gen, Human Experimentation, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Mutant Powers, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Torture, References to Depression, Suicide Attempt, Superpowers, Werewolves, mutant AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-22
Updated: 2019-06-19
Packaged: 2019-11-27 10:17:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18193271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ice_wolf/pseuds/ice_wolf
Summary: The first time Hansol had noticed that was different was at his fifth birthday when he woke up in the body of a wolf. It had just been a few seconds, but it happened more often after this until he found out how to control this shifting.Seungcheol didn't remember anything else than his cold, small cell. He had been here for so long, that he didn't even know what the difference between dark and bright was.He had been one of the first "mutated children" - the "Others" as most 'normal' humans called them - who had been brought into this prison.Jihoon was the first person he spoke to - a five-year-old, who didn't even know, why he had been taken away from his family.After Jihoon's arrival, more people were locked up. The last one was Hansol.When the fifteen-year-old entered the building, the captives decided to stop doing what the humans wanted from them.This was the end. No one would control them, not anymore.





	1. Prologue

Two bright eyes were opened, slowly, not to be seen in the dark.

He knew nothing but the darkness as he only remembered this small, cold cell. He had never been outside, he had never spoken any word loudly. He didn’t exactly know what was in the world outside of this building, but he was determined to see it with his own eyes. Eventually he’d see what was out there, and he would take the others with him.

 

The first person he had ever spoken to had been a little boy whose name was Jihoon. Until this day, he hadn’t known the concept of names, let alone the possibility of communication with the presences he felt behind the thick walls of his cell.

It was the first time he used his ability of telepathy without even realizing it.

_“Who are you?”_

Without really understanding the feeling, he knew that the boy was scared. Still, he didn’t want him to feel uncomfortable.

Jihoon had only been five years old when he was taken away from his parents for simply being too intelligent for a boy of his age. The humans weren’t even sure if he really was one of the “Others”, the mutated kids with special abilities which could harm everyone around them.

Jihoon wasn’t able to harm anybody. At least not at that time. He had been a small boy who had accidentally said the wrong things in front of the wrong people.

As he was the only person to talk to, although just in their heads and not with real words, they soon grew close, and he even got a name from the small boy – Seungcheol, the name of Jihoon’s older brother.

 

Two years later, at least this is what he heard later, the presence of another boy appeared.

The older Seungcheol became the better he could use his abilities and the more people he could feel in the building, but this boy wasn’t far away – he was brought into the cell beside Jihoon’s.

The difference to his first meeting with Jihoon was, that this boy exactly knew where he was and why he had been brought to this place. And even worse – he felt like he deserved the bad treatment of the humans around him as he blamed himself for someone’s death.

He and Jihoon, who communicated through him with the boy, needed a couple of months to earn the boys trust and to come to know his name – Joshua.

Hadn’t the angel come to them, the boy might not have survived.

 

Jeonghan arrived around a year after Joshua. Seungcheol had never felt something that bright. Although he didn’t know anything else than darkness back then, he later couldn’t describe it in any other way.

The angel, how Seungcheol called him in secret, was sent into the same cell as Joshua, probably to prevent the boy’s suicide.

This was also the time the humans started with their experiments. Seungcheol was never let out of his cell, but they often took Jihoon and Jeonghan with them and with every new injury Joshua felt less guilty for leading to someone’s death until he finally began to hate the humans, at least those who made them suffer.   

 

After this, Wonwoo joined them. He had to learn the same lesson as Joshua – don’t trust the ‘normal’ humans, they hurt you without a reason.

Later Mingyu, followed by a Chinese boy, who didn’t even really speak their language, was caught.

As there were more and more people near him, Seungcheol had evermore problems with communicating. On top of that, Joshua and Jeonghan were eventually separated again, making it even more difficult to connect them all with each other.

Soonyoung wasn’t as talented and his telepathy abilities weren’t as trained as Seungcheol’s, but the fifteen-year-old learned very fast and finally allowed them to communicate with each other again.  

The year after this, only one person was brought in their block before the grate change happened.

 

-

 

The fifteen-year-old boy whose foreign features showed that he at least wasn’t fully of Asian descendant, stopped as he heard loud crying. Confused he looked around, seeing a little girl sitting on the ground. Her knee was bleeding.

 

Anxiously he locked around, before kneeling in front of the girl.

“Don’t be afraid. It won’t take long”, he whispered and positioned his hand on her knee.

Immediately the girl yelled and pulled back, but at this time, the small wound had already disappeared.

 

Hansol knew what he’d done was a big mistake. If the girl told her parents or if anybody had seen him, they’d take him away. Everyone knew about it but nobody spoke about the people who took minors with them, who had abilities ‘normal’ people could never develop.

 

The first time Hansol had noticed that he was different had been at his fifth birthday, when he had woken up in the body of a wolf. It had just been a few seconds, but it happened more often after this until he found out how to control the shifting.

It was a miracle that no one else had noticed his abnormalities until now and finally it was a small mistake that had led to them taking him away.  

 

After coming home from school, he stayed with his family for the rest of the day, anxiously waiting for someone to ask for him. He couldn’t remember telling his mother, father and sister that he loved them so many times in a row before. Obviously, his mother noticed, that something was wrong, but seeing his tormented lock when she asked him about it, she decided to wait for him to tell her himself.

His father, on the contrary, just nodded once, when he came back home from work and locked himself in his room to continue work without any disturbances.

 

They came around 8 p.m.

They were a group of four. Four full-grown, muscular men came to take a small, fourteen-year-old with them.

Hansol had known that they would come. His mother was shocked, when she opened the door and the men entered without a word, grabbing her son and dragging him outside. He immediately knew that any resistance was useless, even if he had shifted. It was commonly known that they exactly knew how to deal with any kind of shapeshifters and other abilities.

He was taken away in a barred truck, chained, unable to move. All the way to wherever they took him, he had the image of his crying mother in front of his eyes – how she cried out his name, demanding his release and asking why they took him with them. Nobody had answered her.

 

-

 

When Seungcheol sensed the arrival of a new person, he knew, that this was the end of their captivity. No one of the prisoners could accept just one more child to be caught and tortured.

Many of them had been brought to this place at a young age, and all of them, even those without the abilities of telepathy or empathy, which Seungcheol owned both, knew, how they all, especially the young ones, suffered. Being trapped together for many years had made them a unity, although a lot of them had never even spoken to each other. They knew that there were others, and they had to prevent that more of them had to join their torment.

This was the end. No one would control them, not any longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello.
> 
> This is one of my first stories and my first real fan fiction.  
> I apologize if there are any mistakes. Unfortunately, English isn't my native language.


	2. Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gradually the wet ground colored red and if someone had approached the young wolf, they had seen that his dark pelt actually was white, drenched with blood. As more and more time passed the wolf moved less and less, getting quieter, finally staying silent. Bit by bit the pain in his stomach faded into the background while his sight blurred and he couldn’t hear anything except the unnaturally loud rain anymore.
> 
> -
> 
> “I think I am able to find my way from here on. Thank you very much for your help.”
> 
> With these words the boy ran around the next corner, leaving them behind.
> 
> “Should we try to follow him and tell him, that this is the wrong direction?”, Seungkwan asked a little shocked about the sudden departure.
> 
> Vernon shook his head. “I don’t think he wants us to follow him.”
> 
> He turned around to leave the building again, but after a few meters he had to notice that Chan still stood at the same place not even moving a bit. Seungkwan had not moved, too, observing the strange behavior of the younger one, now glancing confused in Vernon’s direction as Chan still didn’t move at all.
> 
> “Chan? Are you coming?”, Vernon asked hesitantly.
> 
> No reaction.

_\- Felix –_

The rain drummed on the hard ground of the small street. Nobody was seen in the dim light of the few street lights, which were the only sources of light apart from a big house a few hundred meters away. Nobody noticed the whining creature on the hard ground right beside the street, or at least nobody wanted to see it.

Gradually the wet ground colored red and if someone had approached the young wolf, they had seen that his dark pelt actually was white, drenched with blood making it look dirty. As more and more time passed the wolf moved less and less, getting quieter, finally staying silent. Bit by bit the pain in his stomach faded into the background while his sight blurred and he couldn’t hear anything except the unnaturally loud rain anymore.

Scared the gold-brown eyes looked around for help, despite knowing that there was nobody to safe him. His older brother had done this to him, while his parents had only watched before demanding his brother to come back into the house, out of the rain. He had lost their love and trust a long time ago, when he had used his abilities for the first time. After this, no one in his family had treated him like before. He had become the “black sheep”, the person on whom everyone was allowed to take their anger out.

The only one who might have helped him was his older brother, but he knew that this would never happen either. His brother would never act up against his parents, though they didn’t seem to care about their son bleeding to death in front of their own home.

The white wolf winced, trying to move, failing. His whole body hurt too much and was by this time far too weak to hold his weight. On top of that, where should he have gone to? The next city was several kilometers away, and he had to admit that he was not really familiar with the streets around their house. And even if he had been able to find a hospital, they might not have helped him in his current condition. At that moment he wasn’t even able to shift back into his human body anymore.

It became more and more difficult for him to keep his eyes open. Slowly he lost consciousness. The wolf barely noticed the approaching footsteps. The last thing he could remember was reddish hair and a worried look in eyes he wasn’t able to recognize. 

 

-

 

After their escape around 8 years ago, the most difficult part of surviving had been adjusting. Most of them had spent the majority of their lives in this prison without any real social interaction and not knowing how the world outside looked like these days.

When they entered the world they only knew how they had seen it as kids. Especially Seungcheol, who had looked after all of them during their captivity and had taken the lead during their break out, had great difficulties. Among other things he had to keep his eyes closed most of the time as he wasn’t used to any sort of light. Moreover, not really moving for years had made his body weak and therefore he constantly needed help.

They were on the run, had no place to stay and nothing to eat. On top of that nobody really knew where they were or where they could go to. Everything around the prison-like building had been wooded except for one single road, which the young boys tried to avoid more than anything else, though it might have led them to a city or at least back into civilization. In the end, the risk of being found was the highest there.

 

Around their third month after running away and beginning to hide, they noticed that someone or something followed them. They became more cautious again, but time passed and nobody attacked them, making them more and more curious about what the unidentified creature wanted from them.

One night, Soonyoung had seen something moving between the plants, watching them quietly. The boy who had begun to use his abilities more often after finally realizing their freedom, decided to focus on the place where he suspected the creature to be and shortly after he found himself face to face with an outstanding tall cat. They both didn’t move for several seconds before moving backwards and creating some space between them.

Surely by now the teenage boy had determined the kind of misplaced feline predator to be a human being, like them one of the Others. Hence, he smiled at the cat insecurely, not knowing how to react properly. However, in the end the other one decided to shift, probably to simplify communication.

“I’m Jimin. Nice to meet you”, the boy said with a shy smile, sitting between the colored leaves of autumn, waiting for a reply.    

Hadn’t they met this boy, a lot of them if not all had not survived the next weeks.

 

After discovering that he wasn’t normal, the parents of the boy, who had approached them in the form of a fishing cat, had moved away from the crowded city, they used to live in, into a forest near a secluded small village. They had heard many stories about people who took children who showed signs of special capabilities with them without telling anyone where they brought them. Those children were usually not seen again and Jimin’s parents didn’t want to experience the same loss.

The boy still had to hide his abilities, but in the forest was a lot of space to use them without being noticed and as he had no friends at this place it was easier to stay for himself. There were far fewer humans to become aware of him being any different.  

Against expectation, he even got to know someone in this village who wasn’t ‘normal’ like the other humans, too. Though Jimin himself was only 16 years old when they first met and wasn’t an adult yet, he felt like he had to protect the six years younger boy. Therefore, they became almost inseparable within a few days.

 

This feeling of responsibility might also have appeared when seeing those lost boys in the forest, although all of them had to be older than Beomgyu. Still, he wasn’t able to ignore them, and so he took them home with him.

Although, his mother, of course, was not very happy about 10 unknown boys between the ages of 14 and 17 in her house, she allowed them to stay for a few days, when she saw how starved and helpless they were. It was obvious that they had no place to go to, however during their stay no one wanted to talk about where they came from and what had happened to them.

When they left five days later, Jimin and his mother quietly watched. Both didn’t feel well letting the minors go. Yet they knew, that they could not stay with them as this would not have passed unnoticed. What should they have answered when one of the village inhabitants might have asked about them? At least the boys seemed significantly stronger than they had been when they first had entered the house. Furthermore, they now knew a destination to head to and how to get there.

 

After this, they didn’t hear anything from Jimin again. Several months after their departure, Hansol had got hold of a newspaper. The front page showed a picture of a completely destroyed village. Although they didn’t know at that time, they later found out that this had been the village Jimin had lived in.

No one really talked about it again, but they knew they had to assume Jimin, the boy who had saved their lives, to be dead.

 

_

 

They got to know Jun about a year after leaving the prison. At this time, they still had no place to live and traveled from one place to another, hoping not to attract too much attention.

Minghao, who till this day didn’t speak much due to still feeling insecure about talking in another language than his mother tongue, had got himself into some kind of trouble. Neither Jun nor Minghao had ever told anybody else what exactly had happened, but the older one had saved him this day.

As Jun seemed to be in a situation comparable with theirs, he finally joined their group, giving Minghao someone he could talk to freely without having to worry too much about the language barrier.

At first all of them apart from Minghao were cautious around him and didn’t really trust him, though as time went on they learned to trust each other, especially after they noticed that Jun seemed to run away from the same people they tried to escape from.

 

Chan and Seungkwan had joined considerably later, approximately three years ago.

The latter met them after being beaten up and left on the street to die. His parents had kicked him out when he became a legal adult, not wanting one of the Others to be affiliated with them.

Chan, on the other hand, was not really a full part of their group. He was loved by everyone, especially as he was the youngest, but he still lived with his parents who so far didn’t know anything about their son being able to manipulate all kinds of energy, particularly electricity.

One day Seungcheol had seen him using this ability in the middle of the street for everybody around to be seen. After this, he set himself to look after the boy and to teach him how to act in public so that no one would find out about him being any different from ‘normal’ human beings.

 

They called their little group “Seventeen”.

Once they had been seventeen members, but this was a part of the past. These days, they just maintained this name to remember the friends they had lost.

Several months after the great breakout of most of the imprisoned, the government had started to train people to hunt the Others down, capture them or, if not avoidable, kill them. These people soon were known as “hunters”, because they seemed to see the people with extraordinary abilities as dangerous animals.  

At first, the small group had thought that it was saver to live at a place where nobody or at least just few people lived like Jimin’s family had used to. However, after their location had been discovered by the hunters and they lost some of their close friends, they were forced to move into the capital where they could act without anyone noticing, as there were far too many people to become aware of a single individual.

 

In the beginning, nobody wanted to harm anybody around them. Nonetheless, as more and more humans attacked them once finding out about their abilities they grew colder and the wish to fight back became stronger. Additionally, they were hardly able to find a place to work. Being hold captive since their early childhood, most of them had no, or just little school education.

With many efforts and losing a lot of money, which they actually could not afford, they had given their youngest, at that time Hansol, the chance to visit school again and to finally graduate. However, they had not been able to do the same for anybody else in their group.

To earn some money, they had begun to accept all kind requests. At first, they didn’t approve anything worse than robbery, later they grew more and more confident and indifferent to their victims. They didn’t even know these people after all. Nevertheless, as their missions became crueler, they decided to make some background checks on the client as well as on the victim before accepting any missions. They still had their own moral values and didn’t want to hurt someone innocent.

Most of their clients weren’t good people either, but as long as Seventeen could help others by scaring, hurting or even killing the target of their mission they learned to accept this. In the end, they had no other choice but to work in a rather illegal sector as no one wanted to employ young, seemingly uneducated men without any official documents that proved their identity.

Eventually they accepted fewer requests as soon as they had made enough money to look after alternatives, until Seventeen broke off every contact to all of their former clients and moved into the outskirts of the city to leave this part of their life behind them.

 

Yet, only ten of the thirteen members had been well-informed about these doings.

After escaping the prison, Joshua had been to self-conscious and scared of hurting anybody around him by means of his abilities, that they didn’t include him until he felt like he could control himself and even then, he wasn’t included in a lot of cases.

Seungkwan and Chan, who both had joint later, should be kept away from this part of the world. The older ones didn’t want the younger members to be part of any illegal activities. In case of Hansol though it had already been too late.

At first, the seemingly sudden move had been confusing for Seungkwan and Chan, because they didn’t know the reasons for it. Just when more time went by, they stopped asking questions about it and accepted the new location as they actually liked the new house more, having more space and being closer to the house of Chan’s parents.

 

This had been about three years ago.

Nowadays seventeen consisted of 13 people among whom 12 lived in the small house at the edge of the city. There still were too many people to know everyone who lives there, but it was much quieter than in the center of the city between all these skyscrapers.

Most of Seventeen had found small jobs by now. They didn’t make much money but enough to live and even to allow their younger members, Seungkwan and Vernon, to go to university. It wasn’t one of the well-known ones, but at least they were able to study. Although Chan, their youngest, originally didn’t want to attend university, he decided to do so as his parents and the other members wanted him to, this making him the third person of the group to go to university.

 

\- _Vernon -_

 

“Are we waiting for Chan today or are we heading straight home?”, Vernon asked Seungkwan while leaving the university building.

 

The moment Hansol had entered the grey building, which the others only called “prison”, he had decided to leave his past, including his old name, behind. He didn’t want to be remembered of his former life and family every time someone called him. Later he decided to take on another name which happened to be “Vernon”.

Besides him some other members of the group had chosen to use different names. Several had completely replaced them like Vernon had done, others only used them in the public, being scared of someone recognizing them and sending the hunters after them.

 

The moment, Seungkwan opened his mouth to answer, walking backwards to face his friend, Vernon noticed someone standing right in the center of the exit. As fast as possible he reached for Seungkwan’s arm to stop him before colliding with the other person, but it was already too late. Startled from the unexpected body contact, Seungkwan spin round with a rushed “Sorry”.  

At first, the other guy, a young man with brown eyes and slightly brighter hair, seemed to be confused but then turned to them with a shy smile.

“It’s okay. I am sorry, I shouldn’t stand in the way.”

Seungkwan, being the social person he simply is, instantly sensed the discomfort of the other. To lift the mood a bit, he introduced them with a bright smile.

“This is Vernon and I am Seungkwan. I’ve never seen you around, do you attend this university?”

“My name’s Jeongguk”, he answered quietly before shaking his head insecurely.

“No … I mean, yes”, he stammered, adding: “Well, I think I am lost…”

While Seungkwan continued to speak to Jeongguk, Vernon took his time to inspect the boy. Now he remembered that he had seen him several times walking through the university corridors. However, they had never spoken to each other.

Despite his young appearance, Jeongguk was at least one year older than them. Though he seemed to be harmless and actually rather insecure at first sight, Vernon knew they had to be very cautious talking to strangers. However, even after closely looking at him, Jeongguk still didn’t seem like any danger to him. Actually, he rather appeared like he truly needed some help to find the way to his next class.

The only thing about him Vernon thought was a little strange was his sense of fashion as the other boy wore some kind of black ring around his neck which distantly resembled a dog collar.

“Should we guide him to his room?”

Vernon looked at his phone display, not knowing what to say. Chan wasn’t here yet and he hadn’t received any messages, therefore the younger boy seemed to plan to meet them in front of the university.

Seungkwan appeared to know what Vernon was thinking, as he lightly touched his arm to get his attention and pointed at the other side of the street where a brown-haired boy waved enthusiastically in their direction.

“If it is okay for Dino to come with us, I see no problem”, Vernon finally responded, using Chan’s chosen name. He didn’t know why, but he still didn’t trust Jeongguk, who nodded relieved at his words.

Seungkwan however looked at him, not understanding the reason for Vernon’s discomfort, but going with it as he introduced Chan as Dino moments later.

 

“So, how can it be that you don’t know how to find your room? Don’t you visiting this university for over one year now?”, Chan asked on their way to B213 after Jeongguk had admitted that this actually was not his first year at this university.

“I used to be in the building in the south. This is my first year in the north”, he explained. Everyone could see how embarrassed he was about the whole situation.

Their university was split into two building complexes. One in the south of the city and another one in the north. Usually those two parts were managed completely independently of each other, so it was a quite rare occasion that someone changed from one building into the other. Vernon assumed that the boy had moved, because the two building complexes were far away from each other.

“So … You moved near this part of university?”, he asked, trying to draw the attention to another, for Jeongguk less embarrassing, topic.

Still, the brown eyes flickered restlessly while he answered: “Well, yeah, you could say so.”

Before Vernon was able to pursue this topic, Jeongguk bowed, noticeably lightened.

“I think I am able to find my way from here on. Thank you very much for your help.”

With these words the boy ran around the next corner, leaving them behind without giving them the possibility to reply anything.

“Should we try to follow him and tell him, that this is the wrong direction?”, Seungkwan asked a little shocked about the sudden departure.

Vernon just gently shook his head. “I don’t think he wants us to follow him.”

He turned around to leave the building again, but after a few meters he had to notice that Chan still stood at the same place not even moving a bit. Seungkwan had not moved, too. However, the young man, whose originally dark hair had a dark blue color at the moment, observed the strange behavior of the younger one, now glancing confused in Vernon’s direction as Chan still didn’t move at all.

“Chan? Are you coming?”, Vernon asked hesitantly.

No reaction.

“Hey, are you okay?” Seungkwan placed his hand carefully on the younger’s shoulder.

Seemingly startled Chan looked at him, stammering: “What?”

Somehow, he seemed like he had just woken up. Except for the short appearance of confusion in his eyes, his face was completely blank now.  

“We wanted to go home”, Seungkwan explained patiently, yet visibly concerned.  

 

About twenty minutes later they reached Seventeen’s house. They had not really said anything since leaving the university building. All of them had been lost in thoughts.

For one thing, Vernon still thought about Jeongguk’s odd leave. It would not have been as strange as it was if he at least had gone in the right direction, but that was not the case. For another thing, he worried a little bit about Chan. The boy had not said anything on the whole way and had only shrugged or shook his head when Seungkwan had tried to talk to him.

His worries were proven unjustified shortly after as Chan’s voice could be heard asking: “Am I allowed to stay here for the night the day after tomorrow?”

Since Seungkwan and Vernon had not expected him to ask something like that, they needed a moment to understanding the meaning of his words. Unlike Jihoon, who entered the living room the moment the three opened the door.

“If we don’t get in trouble with your mother because if this – sure”, he answered before continuing his way upstairs.

 

_\- Yoongi –_

 

Three days after Jeongguk had confirmed the identities of the people living in the house they had observed for several months now, they approached the house by night.

It was night, a time of day every one of the inhabitants of the house should be at home, so that they could capture all of them at once. Beforehand Jeongguk had made sure that the boy with the bright brown hair would be there, too, as they had noticed, that he usually left for the nights and seemed to stay at another place.

 

They hid in the shadows, waiting for Namjoon’s signal to begin with their plan.

 _“Now”_ , the hushed order echoed in Yoongi’s head, although it still wasn’t his time to act.

Yoongi gave Jeongguk a nod, who instantly stood up and went straight to the door. Even before this, a scared look appeared on his face, making Yoongi wonder once more if this might be acted or if Jeongguk just didn’t bother hiding how he really felt. Yoongi knew that the youngest of their small group didn’t feel well hunting after his own kind, but at the moment they had no other choice, and they all knew it. If they wanted to survive, that had to do this.

The red-haired shook his head. He had to concentrate. No mistake would be accepted, there always were consequences.

The door slowly opened and a slender, obviously still half-asleep guy looked at Jeongguk, questioning the visit of a stranger in the middle of night with a confused look on his face. Even before he could say a word, his whole body visibly froze. Yoongi knew, if he had been a little bit closer he could have seen the reddish glow in the eyes of the stranger. This always happened when Jeongguk took possession of someone else’s body. At first the other person wasn’t able to move and their eyes began to glow in a light, red hue. After some seconds, the possessed person would relax again with the difference that Jeongguk was controlling the other’s body from then on.

Before Jeongguk’s own, at this time seemingly unconscious body could hit the ground, a blond boy leaped forward to catch the falling boy. However, this time something went wrong. Neither did Jeongguk lose his consciousness nor did the other person ease. Instead, both stared vacantly into space.

Jimin, now standing beside them, glanced worriedly in the direction of his friends. Something definitely wasn’t right.

As Jimin faced in Namjoon’s direction, Yoongi guessed that they were talking by means of Namjoon’s telepathy abilities. He would have liked to know what all of this was about and why no one at the door moved, but now another face appeared in the door frame, highly skeptical. At this point, no one could deny anymore that nothing happened as planned.

“Joshua?”, he could hear the blond guy in the door frame asking, touching the shoulder of the boy whose body Jeongguk should have taken over. Rather than this, both boys began to blink repetitively and drew back at the exact same moment. For a few seconds nothing happened, then everyone began to run.

As fast as he was able to, Yoongi took up the chase, when the boy, who apparently was called Joshua, took the others hand and tried to escape into the house. He certainly had unveiled their plan.

Yoongi did not intend to let them get away. He barely had reached the house, before setting the wall on fire. If they weren’t caught by them tonight, they would at least die.

“What have you done?”, Jimin exclaimed clearly shocked.

“I prevent our failure”, he answered coldly, entering the house. No one of its residents was allowed to escape.

_\- Felix –_

 

Felix didn’t know how he had ended up here.

The white wolf stood at the edge of the forest, hidden by the trees. His eyes were focused on the house at the other side of the small road in front of him. He had not been here for three years, why had his paws brought him back now?

Closely the boy inspected the house in which he had spent the majority of his life. It was quite big, having three floors, an attic and a small cellar. His own room was at the backside of the house, not to be seen from his current location. Nevertheless, he had not been here for several years. Felix had to assume that the little things he used to own weren’t there anymore. He wondered what had happened after Seungmin had saved Felix’s life by taking the wolf with him.

 

His thoughts were interrupted by a sudden sound. When he looked up, he saw how someone leaving the house, letting the door snap shut behind him. Though it had been some years, Felix recognized him immediately. The boy with the bruised arms, not being properly clothed for the cold morning weather, was Changbin.

Changbin had not always been a part of Felix’s family. Their parents had been very close friends since middle school and although they had not lived next door, Changbin, Felix and his older brother had grown up together.

When Felix had been five years old, Changbin’s parents died. It had been an accident; a little boy had discovered one of his abilities for the first time and lost control over it. After this, his parents had adopted Changbin as soon as possible and had moved out here, in the forest, to keep their children away from those dangerous creatures, which could be everywhere where other people were.

Because of this tragic event his parents had not been able to accept Felix when his abilities showed for the first time. After this, Changbin had been the only person who didn’t look at him with disgust in his eyes despite the way his parents had died.

   

Felix was on the brink to leave his hideout and walk to his old friend to warm him and ask what had happened to him, however he wasn’t able to. His whole body opposed going near the place where he almost had lost his life. Additionally, although he didn’t want to admit it, he was scared of being seen by his family. He didn’t exactly know why, but he preferred them to think that he was dead.

Heavy-hearted the wolf watched the dark-haired boy, who now sat down on the veranda and waited, visibly trembling because of the cold, yet it didn’t seem like someone would let him back in soon.

If Changbin had become the black sheep of the family after Felix had disappeared? He hoped to be mistaken, although everything he saw at this moment spoke for this assumption.

 

Something touched him at his side, letting Felix spin around anxiously. Beside him was a smaller wolf with an almost black pelt. Seconds later a boy sat between the plants, looking back and forth between the house and the white wolf. He had never been where Felix used to live before, though he could assume what this place meant to his friend. He waited a few seconds before whispering: “There are strangers near our camp. Chan has told be to bring you back.”

Felix just nodded. Unlike Jisung he wasn’t able to shift now without standing in the cold completely naked, but in the form of a wolf he obviously was not able to speak. The dark-haired boy smiled at him understandingly, turning back into a wolf and waiting a few meters away.

The white wolf looked back one last time, following his friend back into the wood to return to the rest of their small group, to his friends, his true family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope there aren't too many mistakes in this chapter.  
> I didn't go through it as careful as I originally intended to.


	3. Woodland

_\- Mingyu –_

 

Mingyu was woken up by the shouts of his friends. Without thinking about it, he jumped up and ran to the stairs to help the others with whatever had happened. As he took the first steps, he already was able to smell smoke. Was there a fire? Had someone set fire to the kitchen? Though, before he was even near the bottom of the stairs he was able to hear a voice in his head, which he immediately recognized as Seungcheol’s.

The matter of fact that Seungcheol used telepathy to talk to him could only mean that something very bad had happened. So, unfortunately, the smell of fire was hardly possible to be the result of an ordinary cooking accident.

After their escape, Seungcheol had had great problems understanding the meaning of privacy. In the beginning he often had entered their thoughts and feelings without their consent and it had taken some time before he had been able to intentionally control his ability and block himself from entering someone else’s head involuntarily. However, since that time the oldest usually only talked to them in their thoughts when it was absolutely necessary. Now it seemed to be a situation like this.

Mingyu stopped halfway to the living room to listen to the rushed words of the elder: _“I know that you have questions, but right now, I can’t explain what’s happening. There isn’t enough time. We need your help!”_

Seungcheol didn’t have to continue speaking. His upset voice was enough for Mingyu to act instantly. A moment later, everything around him stopped – every move, every sound. Time was frozen.

 

To find out more about the current situation and how much time they had to go back to prevent whatever was happening, Mingyu went into the living room. He didn’t have to search for the origin of the scent of smoke. Flames rested at the wall, ready to continue their work of destruction the moment Mingyu would allow them to.

Mingyu forced himself to look away from the rare sight of the motionless flames. Every second was important as he got more and more tired the longer he had to maintain the current state of his surroundings. Therefore, he wasn’t allowed to lose focus. Instead, he had to gather as much information as possible before doing what Seungcheol had asked for.

At the door were several people Mingyu wasn’t able to recognize. Yet he could tell that they had no good intentions entering the house. One of them had pushed Jeonghan to the ground and held him there by his wrists. The flames around the hands of the red-haired guy let Mingyu come to the conclusion that this person was responsible for setting their house on fire. He would have liked to remember his face as someone with abilities like this could be very dangerous, however, the guy’s face was currently hidden behind his hair and Mingyu had not enough time to step any closer.

Near Jeonghan another, younger boy with bright, blond hair currently reached for Joshua’s arm. The dark-haired young man didn’t really seem to notice this though, looking down in Jeonghan’s direction with a worryingly vacant expression on his face as if he wasn’t really present.

In the door frame was another boy whose expression was oddly similar to Joshua’s and behind him were at least two more people heading for the entrance.

Mingyu sighted, shaking his head lightly. He didn’t really understand what was going on. At least one of the intruders was one of the Others and used his abilities publicly. Therefore, these people were not able to be hunters and still their group was attacked by them. Why did they fight against their own people?

A sting in his temples reminded him of his limited time. He had to act before he was too exhausted to do so.

With increasing speed everything was set back. Mingyu hadn’t had the time anymore to think about how much time he should go back, so he had to act by instinct. When everything normalized again and time went on normally, he looked at the watch on top of the entrance to the kitchen. At the moment it was 2:10 a.m. – They might at least have ten minutes until the strangers entered their house. Yet, Mingyu had been asleep when everything had begun and thus couldn’t really be sure about this.

 

Exhausted Mingyu stumbled into Seungcheol’s room and woke him up. The elder didn’t seem very happy about being woken up in the middle of night, but noticing Mingyu’s tired gaze and trembling body he seemed to realize that his friend might have used his ability, something that only happened in the case of an emergency.

“We have to leave, immediately.” Mingyu’s voice wasn’t more than a whisper.

To his relief Seungcheol only nodded rather than asking any questions. Seconds later he heard how the first doors were opened, followed by the footsteps of his friends running downstairs. Seungcheol seemed to have informed them about their current situation.

“Can you move by your own?”, the older one asked worried. Instead of answering, Mingyu just smiled lightly. They both knew, that at the moment it was even difficult for him to stand. Nevertheless, they didn’t have a choice.

 

They left in a hurry, only taking their most important belongings with them.

Of course, the others had many questions and wanted to know what the reason for their hasty departure was, but seeing the serious look on Seungcheol’s face and how exhausted and terrified Mingyu seemed to be they all went quiet after the first few minutes. The atmosphere was depressing and even their youngest, who unfortunately had stayed with them this night, understood that it was better to stay quiet now, although he never had been in a similar situation.

The group left through the garden, helping each other when they noticed that someone was not able to move on on their own. All the time, someone stayed at Mingyu’s side to support him on their way. They didn’t really know where to go, especially as no one apart from Mingyu really knew what they were running away from.

They finally decided to head for the forest and to hide there until they knew more about the circumstances. For the moment it was easier for them to remain undetected between the trees and plants than on the open streets of the city between other people, who on top of that might get involved. Nobody wanted to risk hurting completely innocent bystanders.

Mingyu stayed at the end of the group. On the one hand, he wasn’t really able to keep pace with the others and on the other hand, he wanted to watch out for their attackers.

When Joshua passed him, Mingyu noticed a strangely detached look in the other’s face. It was the same expression Joshua had had when Mingyu had seen him on the ground, being attacked by the guy who seemed to be able to control fire. However, Joshua should not be able to remember any of this. This expression should have disappeared with his memories of this night’s events. Mingyu decided to look after him as soon as possible.

 

_\- Jisung –_

 

The black wolf laid curled up besides the brown-haired boy who slowly petted his head. They sat in front of an old wooden hut. Next to it was a small lake on which some ducks could be seen, although they kept distance to the building and its occupiers. The animals felt that they were different from other humans and might be even more dangerous. Maybe they even knew who was able to shift into a predator.

The wolf rose his head when he heard someone entering the forest nearby. He only was able to catch a glimpse of silver-gray hair before the person vanished between the plants. Questioningly he looked to Minho, but the older didn’t seem to know why Chan had left alone without saying a single word either.

“Maybe he is following Felix”, Minho suggested shrugging.

The younger had left around half an hour ago to hunt but had not returned since then. Nevertheless, Jisung didn’t think that this was the reason for Chan’s departure. He himself knew how difficult hunting could be, especially in the overgrown forest during summer. He was aware of his advantage of being rather small as a wolf. Felix and Chan had greater problems moving between the trees and other plants without causing too much noise.

The younger sat up, shifting back into his human form. Another advantage. While Felix, Chan and Jeongin had to bear terrible pain changing their forms he himself felt hardly any discomfort, not much more than a sting.

“I don’t think so. He would have contacted Felix directly. On top of that, Felix went into a completely different direction.”

Noticing the worried look on his friend’s face, Jisung immediately felt sorry. He had not intended to distress anyone.

“Let’s not think too much about it. Chan would have told us if there was something wrong”, he tried to distract Minho, rather unsuccessfully.

Jisung hated seeing the older being worried. He knew that Minho thought far too often about the possibility of being found by the hunters or other people who wished them to disappear from this world or even dead. Albeit Jisung could understand Minho’s worries as his friend was the most vulnerable member of their small group, he didn’t feel that this way of thinking was justified anymore. They had lived here fore several years now without any exceptional occurrences. Unlike Minho, the dark-haired boy felt save at the lake he had learned to call his home.

A moment later he stood at the edge of the lake, paws in the still cold water, waiting for his friend to follow him. When the brown-haired boy made no move to do so, he returned and began to softly tug on his sleeve. Yet he was careful to not hurt the older or to tear the fabric with his sharp teeth.

Seeing Jisung’s effort, a small smile appeared on Minho’s face. Finally, he gave up and followed his younger friend to the lake, where the wolf immediately jumped into the shallow water to splash him. Happy that his attempt of distraction seemed to be effective, Jisung watched how Minho took his shoes off and followed him into the lake to take revenge.

 

Jisung didn’t know how much time had passed, when Chan’s voice could be heard in his head.

_“There are some strangers near the lake. Find Felix and bring him back. Make sure that everyone is in the hut when I return.”_

Jisung hated it when Chan spoke to them using telepathy. He didn’t like the thought of someone else being in his head, although he knew, that Chan was only able to talk to them and didn’t know what they thought or felt. Additionally, he always felt a little dizzy after this kind of communication. Because he was the only one of the group to have this problem, Chan usually addressed the others when he used telepathy to communicate and left Jisung out. Something had to worry the elder, if he used his ability on Jisung, risking the younger’s well-being.

After these words, Chan stayed quiet, however, as the worried look reappeared on Minho’s face, the black wolf had to assume that Chan had spoken to both of them.

“You search for Felix?”, the older asked, stepping out of the water.

Jisung knew, that Minho had seen how Chan’s ability had affected the dark wolf. The worry in his eyes wasn’t only directed at the strangers in the forest but also at Jisung’s condition. Therefore, the brown-haired boy didn’t look away for even a second while the wolf, still a little unsteady on his feet, followed him to the hut.

Jisung nodded to answer his friend’s question. Afterwards he went into the direction in which Felix had disappeared earlier. Until the leaves blocked his view, the wolf felt Minho’s eyes following him.

 

Knowing what he had to watch out for, it was easy for Jisung to find the way Felix had taken. The blond boy’s scent was very familiar to him, therefore, it didn’t take much time to detect the scent trail he searched for.

The other boy was farther away than excepted which might have been the reason why Chan had told them to find Felix instead of contacting him directly. When Jisung finally got a glimpse of the white wolf’s pelt, he felt relief, but at the same time confusion. His friend stood near a small road and seemed to observe something on the other side. As Jisung came closer, he caught sight of a big house. In front sat a boy who might be around the same age as them.

The black wolf needed a moment to understood what he saw. This was the place where Seungmin had found Felix three years ago. The blond boy had lived in this house for a majority of his life. So, this boy on the veranda was one of his family members?

Out from the corner of his eyes Jisung detected a small movement. Before Felix was able to make a mistake and step out of his hideout, Jisung stepped forward and nudged his friend gently.

He looked to the other wolf apologetically and with an understanding look in his eyes. Jisung himself often wished to see his family again. Yet he knew that it was too dangerous, especially for someone like Felix who almost had been killed by his own relatives.

To explain why he had followed the white wolf, Jisung turned back into his human form. Sometimes he wished to have the same connection Chan and Felix had, who both were able to communicate through pictures when they were wolves, without having to change back or use Chan’s telepathy. This kind of communication seemed to be something that came with this special kind of ability and although Jisung was able to shift into a wolf, too, he still was different from Chan and Felix.

“There are strangers near our camp. Chan has told be to bring you back.”

After this, he stepped back a few meters to wait for the bright wolf. He didn’t intend to force Felix to follow him and wanted to give him some time to step away from his former home by himself.

 

When they stepped out of the forest, they were welcomed by a couple of unknown faces. Albeit the atmosphere wasn’t hostile, the tension between the strangers and the few members of their own group in front of the hut was noticeable.

“A human?”, one of the strangers asked, not hiding his distrust and resentment.

As the dark-hairedman who had spoken stepped forward Jisung’s body reacted without giving him enough time to think about what exactly was going on and the proper way to react. He felt danger coming from this man and at the moment his hatred obviously was directed at one of Jisung’s friends.

Growling and with bared teeth he stepped between the stranger and Minho. Felix, who had followed him to the hut, began to circle the other group, although they were clearly outnumbered by the newcomers. If he had not miscounted, they were thirteen. In the case of a fight, their group of seven might be at a disadvantage.

“Jisung, Felix, stop”, Chan said calmly.

Surprised they both looked up at their leader, following his words and returning to the rest of their group. However, as Felix passed the strangers he got too close to one of them and brushed his leg. Immediately another one of them pulled the brown-haired young man back, glaring at the wolf.

While Felix didn’t shift, understandably not wanting to be seen naked by everyone, Jisung changed back again beside Minho. His clothes kind of became part of his body while shifting, another aspect that made his ability different from Jeongin’s, Chan’s and Felix’s. Doing so, he wasn’t able to ignore the confused look on the face of the boy Felix had brushed.

 

_\- Vernon –_

They had been on the run for several days now, although their attackers didn’t seem to follow them, at least not anymore. However, as they had reached the forest, bright flames and smoke had signalized that there was no longer a place to return to. Without a destination to head to, they had entered the forest.

They didn’t speak much. Most of them were too exhausted and hungry. Others were scared of hurting their friends with their words out of anger about the whole situation. Again, they had no place to go to, just when they had settled down and started to believe that they might be able to live a normal life after all. On top of that, this time their youngest was with them. A boy who never had been an outcast, who had never been forced to run away before.

 

Around a week after the attack, Seungcheol signaled them to slow down. Shortly after that, they were able to hear him say: _“Who are you?”_

The echo in Vernon’s head indicated that Seungcheol used his telepathy and not his normal voice to talk to someone only the elder had noticed.

Vernon wanted to watch out for the person their leader spoke to but was hold back by Jeonghan, who hardly noticeable shook his head before returning to Joshua’s side. Since they had left the house, Joshua hadn’t said a word. Actually, besides following them, he hadn’t done anything. Vernon was sure that the elder didn’t even sleep. His inexplainable condition worried all of them, however, especially Jeonghan and Mingyu seemed to be affected by it.

 _“I should ask you who you are. This is our territory_ ”, an unfamiliar voice answered Seungcheol’s question.

The words seemed to be a warning, but the voice was calm. Whoever spoke to them didn’t mean to harm them, not for the moment.

Now Seungcheol stopped and looked past them into the forest. Vernon followed the leader’s gaze and after searching for a few seconds he finally caught sight of a grey pelt. Between the high trees stood a tall wolf, his dark eyes were focused on Seungcheol, but he obviously was aware of the other members of the group who, one after another, turned around to look at him.

After what felt like an eternity, the wolf turned around and stepped back into the safety of the forest. At the same moment, Seungcheol announced that they would follow him. As it seemed, they had continued their conversation without letting the rest of the group listen.

 

This had been about an hour ago. By now they stood near a small, wooden hut. On their left side was a lake which shimmered golden in the light of the setting sun and in front of them five people had gathered of whom one had to be the wolf they had met before. Vernon assumed that the silver-gray haired young man, who seemed to be the leader of the small group, was the person who had spoken with Seungcheol.

On the right side of the grey wolf, who had turned back into human form and dressed himself while they still had been on their way to this place, stood a seemingly younger boy with red brown hair. He appeared to be more interested in the newcomers than scared or hostile. Beside the boy stood another young man who obviously was worried about the whole situation as his eyes swayed between the grey-haired guy and the strangers while he made sure that the younger one stayed by his side. The person on the other side of the grey wolf, a guy with rather dark hair, seemed to share this opinion, whereas the last member of the other group was obviously not very happy about their arrival.  

Vernon could understand them. This was apparently some kind of hideout. Having strangers here meant danger, it didn’t matter that they didn’t want to hurt the members of the small group, but when they were able to find this place others were able do so, too. And it only was a matter of time until someone came here who wanted to harm them.

“A human?”

Surprised Vernon looked to Seungcheol. Which reaction did their leader hope to achieve with this question? Wasn’t it obvious that these people were a part of the Others? However, someone was seemingly unhappy with these words as a dark dog-like shape appeared between their leader and the other group. The black wolf growled warningly at Seungcheol, who immediately stepped back.

Shortly after, another, bigger wolf appeared and began to circle around them, though both of them were called back by their own leader. While the black wolf went directly to the brown-haired boy, who seemed to be the one Seungcheol had referred to as “human”, the other wolf, whose pelt had a white color, firstly had to pass them to get to his friends.

Doing so, he got too close to him so that his pelt touched Vernon’s trousers. He himself had no real problem with this as it obviously had not been intentional, but Seungkwan seemed to see this differently as he pulled him back, glaring at the wolf.

“It’s alright”, he quietly tried to calm his irritated friend down, who slowly let go of him again.

At the same moment, he saw that at the place where the black wolf had been a second ago was a black-haired boy. Completely dressed and without showing any pain on his face. So, he was a general shapeshifter?

His attention was redirected to Seungcheol and the silver-haired man, when they continued their conversation.

“Yes, he is a human. But aren’t we all?”

All attendees knew what Seungcheol had meant with his question, but they stayed quiet. They weren’t in the position to question those who lived here and as they seemed to see him as one of their group, they had to be okay with it for the time being.

“So, what do you want? Why are you here?”

 

_\- Taehyung –_

 

 _“Now”_ , Namjoon’s voice echoed in his head.

Expectantly, Taehyung looked to Jeongguk, who sat about two meters in front of him. A few seconds ago, the younger one had been eager to do everything perfectly and to satisfy all expectations, but now the boy sat on the ground completely motionless, not reacting to their leader. He didn’t even look up, when Namjoon repeated the order.

At that moment, he could hear Yoongi cursing. Setting his eyes on the house again, he instantly knew what had made the older guy angry. Lights were turned on and shortly after off again. Rushed movements could be seen behind the windows. Taehyung didn’t know how, but the inhabitants of this house knew that something unusual was going on, and they were leaving, rushed.

Before anyone could say anything, Yoongi already was heading to the front door, closely followed by Namjoon and Seokjin. Jimin had come to a halt halfway between them and Jeongguk, seemingly concerned. Shortly after Hoseok stopped beside the blond boy and followed his line of vision, furrowing his brows as he caught sight of their youngest. They seemed to have noticed something unusual, too.

Confused, Taehyung looked at his friend again, who still had not moved a bit. Taehyung drew closer touched the younger one lightly by his shoulder, without getting any reaction. Now he was worried, too. He lifted the younger’s head carefully, so that he could make eye contact, though the brown, usually so vivid eyes were completely empty, a vacant expression had spread on Jeongguk’s face.

“Something’s not right with him”, he whispered a little bit too loud.   

He felt how he slowly panicked as the younger still didn’t react at all. What had happened while he had looked away? It had only been a few seconds.

He felt the warmth of the growing fire nearby. Yoongi possibly had set the house on fire, furious as their plan had failed. However, Taehyung wasn’t able to take his eyes off the body of his friend. He had never seen him like this before.

A hand was put on his shoulder to move him sideward making room for their eldest. Looking up, he recognized Jin, who kneeled down in front of Jeongguk, placing his hand on top of the younger’s head. Time vanished without anything happening. After several minutes, the dark-haired man stepped back. Confusion and concern on his face.

“We have to leave now, before anyone sees us here”, Namjoon said. His voice was calm, but for everyone who knew him a little better it was obvious how troubled he was by Jeongguk’s odd behavior.

“I take him”, Jimin offered, ready to shift into any kind of animal which might be able to carry the youngest easily. Yet, Taehyung objected.

“No, I’ll carry him. Please help me, lifting his body up.”

Without further questions, Hoseok stepped closer to help him lifting the younger’s body on Taehyung’s back.

 

_\- Jihoon –_

Jihoon didn’t like the situation they were in. Nobody liked it, but he hated it the most. The rain outside was far too loud for him, every raindrop was a torture for him and it took him all of his willpower not to search for a quieter place. Still, he wasn’t able to hold himself back from covering his ears, which lead to several confused looks from the strangers at the other side of the room. Of course, no one of the other group was able to understand his pain and the reason of it, but he wasn’t willing to explain it to them either.

After Seungcheol’s explanation, the leader of the others, a young man with dark, tired eyes and silver-gray hair, had allowed them to stay with them until they had found another solution for their current situation. Obviously, no one was really happy about this but at the same time there was something like an unspoken rule which obligated those of the Others to help each other. They already had too many enemies for them to fight each other, too.

The wooden hut had two floors. On the ground-level was a small bathroom and some kind of living room which included a kitchen. The top floor, where they were at the moment, was a single room. There were two beds on one side of the room. One was shared by a red-haired boy and the youngest of the group, while the other one was occupied by the human boy and the black wolf, who by now had shifted into the form of a wolf again and had placed his head on the lap of the other boy, keeping his eyes glued to the thirteen boys he obviously saw as a threat. Jihoon didn’t feel the urge to discuss with the boy. If he wanted to see them as his enemies he was allowed to as long as he didn’t attack one of them.

On the floor were several blankets and pillows. Some of them had been given to the newcomers, who now laid or sat on one site of the room, where the inhabitants of the hut could keep an eye on all of them.

The only ones who seemed curious or trusting enough to get to know someone of the other group were the white wolf, who still hadn’t turned back, and Vernon, who had shifted into a wolf for some reason Jihoon didn’t know and at the moment also wasn’t interested in at all.

The two wolves sat in front of each other with a gap of at least three meters between them, inspecting each other quietly. The only one not too exhausted to be bothered by their strange behavior was Seungkwan, who refused to leave Vernon’s side to lay down to sleep, although it was obvious how tired the boy was.

Thunder let him wince. Whimpering he tried to curl up even more. The last time he had been exposed to sounds like this unfiltered had been too long ago. In their house he had had sound-absorbing headphones and the possibility to flee into the cellar, where he had been able to block most of the noises, but right now he was completely defenseless.  

“Are you alright?”, Seungcheol asked quietly.

The anger in the younger’s eyes was enough to answer his question. He knew exactly how much Jihoon suffered as he had felt with him in the first months after their escape so many years ago, when the oldest still had not been able to block himself from the other’s feelings and thoughts. Trying to help, he placed his hands on top of Jihoon’s, not knowing how to help his friend. However, the younger immediately tried to get rid of the unwanted touch.

As he didn’t get better as time passed, the silver-haired boy eventually asked, to Jihoon’s distress clearly worried: “Is he okay? Is he in pain? Can we do anything to help him?”

It was a rhetorical question. It was obvious that Jihoon suffered. Nevertheless, the stranger didn’t dare to ask directly what caused his pain.

“Only if you can let him fall asleep or make the rain stop”, Seungcheol answered, not looking up. The chance that someone had an ability like this was rather small.

“I might-“, Minghao began to talk hesitantly, but Jihoon’s threatening gaze interrupted him.

Several years ago, the Chinese boy had used his ability to control someone’s mind to suppress Jihoon’s sensitive senses, but this had been a long time ago. As Jihoon hated the feeling of losing control over his own body, he had prohibited the younger man to use his ability on him as soon as he had had an alternative.

It took some time, but when the rain became weaker and the first morning light entered through the windows, Jihoon finally was able to close his eyes and to fall asleep.


	4. Protection

A month passed without any exceptional occurrences. Neither the men who had attacked **Seventeen** nor any other humans appeared near the lake, and although it stayed obvious that they were two different groups, the young men grew closer as time passed by.

 

The group of the lake had never even thought about naming themselves. There wasn’t anybody else they might have to introduce themselves to, and they just saw themselves as a group of friends - Nothing that had to have a special name. However, when the other group arrived, it became evident that they needed a name after all.

It occurred more and more often that they didn’t know how to call themselves in conversations that included the other boys, who apparently had named themselves “Seventeen”. It became difficult to make clear who they spoke of and saying “your group” and “our group” only intensified the boundaries between the young men. Therefore, Chan had come to the conclusion that they needed a name, too. After some thoughts and discussions, they had decided for “Stray Kids”.

 

However, not everyone got along well with the new living situation. Jihoon was more often alone in the woods than with the others and Seungkwan was more suspicious of the other group than he had ever been of anybody else. But not only those two were cautious and not only **Seventeen** ’s members showed signs of hostility once in a while.

Jisung never left Minho’s side and glared at everyone of the strangers who dared to look in their direction. **Seventeen** didn’t understand why the boy didn’t even seem to consider giving them a chance and his friends knew, that he was too concerned about Minho’s safety to let anyone of those men near him, hence they didn’t scold him for his behavior. Minho himself appeared to be more pleased by the younger’s behavior than annoyed and therefore didn’t make a move to stop him or to get to know the members of **Seventeen**.

 

_\- Vernon –_

 

Vernon had been the first one to become closer to **Stray Kids** ’ members. Besides Jun, he had never met someone with similar powers to his own and therefore experiencing the special, mental bond in his wolf form that he shared with Chan and Felix was something completely new for him. Before this he hadn’t known that something like this even existed. 

At first, he had to get used to the pictures that appeared in his thoughts near the other two wolf shifters, but as time went on he learned to appreciate this kind of communication and the sense of belonging. He was so focused on experiencing all those new impressions that came with spending more time as a wolf that he didn’t notice that he spent less and less time with his other friends.

After a few weeks he had talked to all of **Stray Kids** ' members at least once, although his conversation with Jisung had been limited to a ‘sorry’ after coming to close to Minho while handing the other boy a blanket. Like the others of **Seventeen** , he wasn’t able to comprehend the younger’s behavior. However, after this, he tried to stay away from both of them. **Seventeen** only were guests in the wooden hut and Vernon didn’t want to put **Stray Kids** ’hospitality to the test.

One evening he had asked Chan about it, but the older boy had only told him, that they all had reasons for how they reacted in some situations and that he had to ask Jisung himself if he wanted to know more about the younger’s motives.

 

It was a warm morning, when Vernon was forced to change the way he acted around Jisung and Minho. Spring showed itself in the form of small, colorful flowers which grew all around the lake where the trees’ shadows weren’t too dark and with the good weather of the previous days the lake’s water had become warmer.

Most of **Seventeen** were busy, either with helping to clean up or enjoying the sun by the lake. Chan and Felix had gone hunting before sunrise and Seungkwan had disappeared a few hours before without telling anyone where he went. Therefore, Vernon didn’t really know whom he should join.

At first, he had tried to offer his help in the wooden hut. But as there were apparently too many people inside the small building, they had sent him away, not needing more help.

Now, Vernon considered approaching the group at the lake, but was taken aback by spotting Jisung’s face between the others. Seeing the black-haired boy talking and even laughing with anyone else than the members of **Stray Kids** wasn’t something he had expected, at least not so soon. However, when he examined the remaining faces, he couldn’t recognize Minho between them. Jeongin and Seungmin seemed to be the only other original inhabitants of the hut who were present at the moment. The rest of their group was either cleaning up or hunting.

Spotting Joshua and Jeonghan at the edge of the small group, Vernon finally decided to go for a short run instead and maybe looking out for Seungkwan on the way. He had no personal problem with them, he actually really liked them, but since they had left their house, Joshua had been strange.

At first, he hadn’t reacted to any of them. He had not spoken, slept or eaten for days until Jeonghan had not been able to bear watching how his friend slowly died without even noticing it anymore. The blond man finally had forced Joshua to eat something. After this, Joshua’s condition had improved a little bit. He slept again, but with nightmares on a regular basis, he ate and drank and he even spoke to them again, although this was rare and his sentences were short and his words hardly audible most of the time. On top of that, he still spaced out far too often.

All of them were worried by his behavior and even those who didn’t know how he had been before all of this had noticed that something about Joshua was strange.

Vernon didn’t like his own thoughts, he didn’t want to feel uncomfortable near anyone of **Seventeen** , but at the moment he preferred not being too close to Joshua and therefore also Jeonghan, as the older always stayed by the other’s side. It made him uneasy seeing one of his friends like this and not being able to do anything to help him. Additionally, Joshua always remembered him that they weren’t really safe, nowhere. Whoever had attacked them might find them again and if it weren’t these people, others would do so.

 

Slowly he turned around and entered the woods. For the first time for weeks he did so without turning into a wolf beforehand. He went straightforwards without really noticing his surroundings. He just used the silence to distract himself and to not think about anything at all, at least as long as he was possible to lock the worries out.

Though he didn’t admit it to the elders, he knew that they were scared. They tried to hide it, but he still knew. Vernon felt it when he ran with Chan, he saw it in Seungcheol’s face whenever the oldest thought that no one looked in his direction. He saw the fear in Joshua and the hatred in Jisung, although both emotional states seemed to fade bit by bit. He had noticed Jihoon’s pain whenever he had to stay near the group, Seungkwan’s hostility, although Vernon really didn’t understand why his friend had to act like this, and how their youngest felt uncomfortable in the unfamiliar surroundings, even after spending so much time here. Chan wanted to contact his parents, he didn’t want them to be worried and he missed his old, carefree life. Until now, he had been the only one of their group who had been spared of running away, but this was a part of the past, even though the boy still had to accept this.

On top of that, Vernon had heard their leaders talking about not knowing where they should go now. Chan had said that they could stay as long as they wanted to, but they all knew that this wasn’t a long-term solution. They were too many people for the hut and at the latest when winter came and there wouldn’t be any eatable plants in the forest anymore the shape-shifters would not be able to feed all of them anymore.

 

Vernon stopped when he noticed that he wasn’t able to recognize his surroundings. He really didn’t know where he was right now.

 _‘I didn’t really get lost, did I?’_ , he thought at the exact same moment, a voice could be heard from behind him: “What are you doing here?”

Hearing the unfamiliar, yet known voice, Vernon turned around, eyes wide of shock. In front of him stood Minho. Although the boy appeared defensive, he seemed to be more confused than angry.

A movement on his left attracted Vernon’s attention before he had the opportunity to answer. Red blazed between the trees and leaves of the forest’s plants, disappearing too fast for any living being. A car? They were beside a street!

Immediately he grew restless. Streets meant that there were humans around and that was related to danger, especially after they had lost their home. The other boy must have noticed his change as he said calmingly: “Don’t worry. We are still far away from any village or city. This is just a small road through the forest. However, we usually try to avoid it.”

“I’ve got lost, I didn’t know this street was here. But why are you here?”, Vernon admitted a little less tense.

“I’ve promised Felix to look for something and wanted to give Jisung a pause.” Mentioning the boy who until now had never left his side since **Seventeen** ’s arrival a small smile appeared on his face, fading instantly when Minho realized who stood in front of him.

Vernon looked at him with bewilderment. Why would he have to give Jisung a pause? Didn’t the younger boy follow his friend voluntarily? And in the end, they weren’t a thread, although Jisung still didn’t seem to have come to this conclusion.

“So, you are here because you didn’t want to be near us?”, Vernon guessed, having already forgotten that the other had also mentioned Felix.

“Partly. I know that most of you, maybe even all of you, mean no harm. But after your first reaction concerning … what I am, Jisung can’t trust you. And, honestly, I’m still a little worried around some of your people, too.”

So, it really was mostly Jisung’s fault why they both stayed away from **Seventeen**.

“I’ve grown up between the Others, most of the time they saw me as one of them, but there were also people who wanted to harm or kill me once they found out that I am only human, that I didn’t have any gifts.”

It was the first time, that Vernon heard someone calling their abilities “gifts”. Their powers weren’t anything that they saw as some kind of gift, they were a burden and made their lives far more dangerous and exhausting than they would have been if they had been born without them. Only those who didn’t have to suffer from the consequences might be able to see their abilities as gifts. Nevertheless, the boy had mentioned growing up between the Others, being a part of them.

His confusion seemed to be visible on his face, as Minho spoke again, though seemingly misinterpreting the reason of his confusion: “When we still were held captive, most of the people around me didn’t even question that I was one of them, because – why would they imprison a human boy? However, there were some people whose abilities made it possible to detect that I wasn’t one of them and when we go out I was the perfect target to let their anger out. You might not believe it, but in the beginning, Jisung was one of them.”

Vernon indeed couldn’t really believe what Minho had told him. For one thing – the boy had been in the prison, too? Despite not being in possession of any abilities? Why had he been captured in the first place? – and for another thing – Jisung, the boy who let nobody near Minho being too scared that someone might hurt him, had once tried to harm said boy himself?

However, considering the sudden end of his narration, Minho seemed to have come to the conclusion that he had already said too much. The brown-haired boy turned around and started entering the forest while saying: “It’s getting late. We should better return before it gets dark”, not even making sure that Vernon actually was following him.

 

After some time that felt like an eternity, Vernon was able to hear the sounds of his friends, talking with each other and still playing in the water. Vernon made a move to leave the forest, when Minho stopped in front of him and turned around. His face showed that there was something bothering him.

“Actually, I wanted to ask you something, too.”

Vernon only nodded, interested in what the younger might have thought of that so obviously bothered him. It took the other a moment to finally open his mouth again, saying: “Why do you seem so upset about Jisung’s behavior? I have seen how confused you were talking about him earlier, but isn’t your friend acting the same around you? Yet with the difference, that I understand Jisung’s reasoning while I don’t see any reason why someone might have to protect you from one of us.”

Vernon didn’t really know what to say. Actually, he didn’t even get what the boy was taking about.

“What do you mean? Who tries to protect me?”

“You really haven’t noticed? The boy who’s always by your side - the one with the bluish hair - he always glares at everyone of us once we approach you. I admit that he isn’t as obvious as Jisung, but how were you able to ignore it?” Minho’s astonishment was clearly visible.

 

The next time he was confronted with something Minho had said this day, although he didn’t remember his words anymore, was several weeks later.

After the afternoon at the lake, Jisung had returned to his hostile behavior, although he was a bit gentler towards those who he had spent time with that day. Minho had stayed away from **Seventeen** and had remained at the side of the members of **Stray Kids** , therefore they hadn’t had the opportunity to talk again.

Actually, Vernon was kind of relieved by this. Their conversation had not been very light-hearted and the thought of Jisung hearing about their interaction and being mad at him wasn’t very pleasant either. Despite him being older than the other boy, he was sure that Jisung could become very dangerous. Not that Vernon wouldn’t have been able to defend himself, but he wasn’t very keen on a fight right now.

Vernon generally wasn’t someone who liked fighting. Usually he was the one to calm other people down and if he had to fight, he was never the person who initiated it. Yet, he didn’t really know Jisung and might judge him completely wrong. Still, he didn’t want to take the risk.  

 

 **Seventeen** had been with the mostly younger boys for around two months now.

Vernon was in the forest, hunting with Chan, Jisung and Felix, when die youngest suddenly changed directions and started to run away from their little group. Immediately the others followed the white wolf, not knowing what was going on and worrying about the sudden change of mood.

While struggling to keep up with the other wolves in the still foreign territory, Vernon felt that Chan was trying to communicate with Felix through the bond between the wolves, but the younger’s thoughts were too messy for both, Vernon and Chan, to decipher. Jisung on the other hand, who should have been the one to understand even less what was going on, somehow seemed to know exactly where they were heading to and soon took over the lead.

On their way they passed a visibly startled fox, who Vernon immediately identified as Jeongin, who had been on the hunt with Jun, whose similar red pelt was almost completely hidden behind some big roots. They didn’t stop though. Somehow, they knew that something awful was going to happen and the bond made him feel Felix’ growing panic, making him feel comparable worried.

Several minutes after running as fast as they could, ignoring their heavy breaths and sore paws, Vernon finally recognized the environment. They were near the road where he had spoken to Minho a couple of weeks ago. What did Felix want here? Prey was definitely not something they would find around here if they didn’t want to eat some roadkill.

Once the road was in sight it only took some more meters for him to be able to look through the wall of trees and get a look of what was on the other side of the street. Against his expectations, expecting another untouched part of the forest, his eyes spotted a tall building. Without hesitation Felix directly headed to its entrance, ignoring the wall and easily jumping over the gate. At any other moment Vernon had been astonished by the younger’s strength and agility, but right now he only felt concern.

The next events happened far too fast for him to understand. As Felix paws touched the muddy ground, Chan jumped forward and Vernon heard the voice of **Stray Kids** ’ leader in his head screaming Felix’ name, ordering him to come back, but this time not through the wolves’ bond but by using his telepathy ability. At the exact same moment the voice appeared in Vernon’s head, Jisung stumbled beside him. If the red fox had not been by his side, the black wolf had fallen. Seconds later another, taller fox came to a halt on Vernon’s other side. All of them stared at what was happening in front of them, eyes shifting between the building’s garden, where Felix’ teeth lowered into a man’s arm, and the street, where a dark vehicle appeared far too fast for Chan to avoid it in time. None of them knew how to react.

If the ground at Chan’s side had not slightly lifted the moment the car reached him, forcing it to the edge of the street, it had directly hit him. Just as the car had stopped swaying and had disappeared behind a turn, Jeongin ran to his leader, letting behind a completely curled up, unmoving Jisung.

Screams could be heard from the other side of the street. Noting how Jeongin and Jun, the latter back in his human form, carried Chan’s unsettling motionless body into safety, Vernon decided that it was okay to check what was happening to Felix and if the younger needed help. He still could feel Chan’s presence and even a hint of the other’s pain, therefore the gray wolf was alive.

For the first time since their arrival, Vernon shifted his full attention to the ground in front of the unknown building. A middle-aged woman stood in the house’s entrance, staring at her, as he assumed, husband, who by now had been able to free himself from the raging wolf and stumbled backwards until he reached the veranda, where a boy around Vernon’s age stood, shock and confusion written on his face. Something about this boy’s appearance was strangely familiar.

Felix didn’t follow the man. Instead, he stayed at the exact same spot, only baring his teeth. Signaling the human family to stay away. It didn’t take much effort to figure out what Felix was protecting from them. Behind Felix sat a boy with black hair and a blank expression on his face. Blood ran down at the side of his head, making his hair look wet.

“I knew this would happen sometime”, Jisung mumbled, voice slightly deeper than usual. Turning to face the boy, who had turned back into his human body, Vernon had to admit, that he really did look peaky. He was sickly pale and his eyes shimmered feverishly.

Before he could figure out what exactly was happening and how he could help, someone approached them from behind. Vernon didn’t even have to turn around to recognize Seungkwan’s familiar scent. But why was he here?

A look to the gray wolf beside the road, who visibly fought to keep his eyes open but was conscious, led him to the assumption that Chan might have called out for help. Shortly after, Seungcheol, Seungmin and Hyunjin appeared between the trees, followed by Minghao and Jihoon, who tried to hide his by this time constantly present pain.

Before their leader was able to speak, Jihoon had already analyzed the situation. Without hesitation, he ordered: “Minghao, make them enter the house and prevent them from talking about this, okay?” The younger only nodded, immediately understanding what Jihoon wanted him to do, before heading to the building. It would only take a few seconds for him to come close enough to use his mind control on the humans.

Meanwhile, Seungmin had sat down at the side of his leader and placed his hands on the light pelt. Vernon had already noticed that the boy seemed to have some kind of healing ability.

“Vernon, follow him and make sure that no one else gets hurt”, Seungcheol added. The brown wolf nodded and instantly followed the Chinese boy to the gate, jumping over it in a similar but less graceful way than Felix had done earlier. The moment, the unknown, strangely familiar boy tried to move, probably to run away, Vernon warningly bared his teeth. He didn’t mean to hurt him, but they needed him to stay where he was for Minghao’s ability to work on him. To his relieve, the boy stayed still after this.

Once the family had returned into the building, Vernon wanted to turn around to go to Felix and the boy, who still sat behind the white wolf, but a hand on his pelt held him back. Looking up he saw Seungkwan who slightly shook his head, nodding in Felix’s direction. Turning back around to see what his friend wanted to tell him, he saw that the white wolf still was cautious and hostile. At the moment, the boy was solely led by his wolfish instincts.

Jeongin, who apparently had followed them after the humans had left the garden, slowly approached his friend. However, as soon as he got too close, the wolf barked and snapped in his direction. Scared and shocked by the odd behavior of his friend the fox retracted. This reaction seemed to have an effect on Felix as he instantly followed his younger friend with lowered tail and ears to show that he felt sorry. Yet, he didn’t leave the dark-haired boy’s side and as Jeongin turned to return to their leader’s side, Felix didn’t follow him.

Worried about the unknown boy’s health, who on top of that seemed to be someone close to Felix, Vernon decided to try again and to approach him to have a look on him. He knew that the boy was bleeding but no one of them knew how badly he was injured. Therefore, he warned Felix through the wolves’ bond that he would come closer but didn’t mean any harm.

At first, he wasn’t sure if the younger let him come closer, but the other appeared to have regained the control over his body, only watching cautiously while the brown wolf began to examine the boy.

The human’s eyes were glassy and he didn’t move a bit as Vernon stopped by his side. Vernon wasn’t a doctor, but the boy definitely had a head injury, so he decided to see if the stranger would react if he touched him. Carefully he nudged the boy’s hand, promptly jumping backwards, not being able to suppress a growl, which led to Felix warningly growling at him in return.

Apologetically Vernon ducked down. He didn’t really know what had triggered this kind of reaction, but his wolf struggled against going near this boy again. Touching him, although it hadn’t been more than a second, had felt painful and like all of his strength had taken away from him. Was he one of the Others, too? Was this the reason why Felix protected him or was there another reason? Nevertheless, the question of how they knew each other still had to be answered.

However, before asking any questions, they had to get to a safer place. At least the dark-haired boy had reacted to the touch and now followed the two wolves with his eyes. Confusion and pain could be seen in them, though his face remained emotionless.

 

_\- Chan –_

Apparently, the new boy was called Changbin and he was Felix’ brother or stepbrother or at least some kind of family member. No one knew what had led to Felix sudden reaction during their hunt. Even he himself didn’t know why he suddenly had run to his family’s house. But his fast reaction might have saved the boy’s life. 

Chan had already known about the boy’s existence before this incident. They all knew of Felix’ past and what had caused him to almost die in front of his own house while his family just had watched. Therefore, Chan wasn’t really happy about the presence of Changbin at the hut. Yet, he didn’t say anything against it as long as Changbin was injured. He was no one to send someone away who needed help and had been cast out by his own family.

However, according to Felix and Changbin’s own words he wasn’t one of the Others and as a result Chan wasn’t obliged to offer him a place to stay after he was completely healed. There were enough places where a human boy could find help.

 

Felix never left Changbin’s side, frustrating the oldest of their group more and more as time passed. At first the blond boy even refused to go hunting and gave Chan no chance to talk to Changbin in private. He was even worse than Jisung watching over Minho. 

However, as soon as Changbin appeared to be healthy and strong enough to get along on his own, Chan announced that he had to leave before the sun set.

“Are you serious?”, Felix shouted exasperated, jumping up from the couch where he had sat beside Changbin whose eyes followed the blond boy. He was visibly shocked, yet Chan had the impression that the cause for this rather was Felix’s reaction than what Chan had said.

“But why?”, Jeongin asked with wide eyes. He never had seen their leader sending someone away who had no place to go to. Additionally, he had grown to like Changbin in the few weeks he had spent with them.

“You’ve taken us in when we needed help and you’ve also accepted Seventeen. Why not one person more?” The confusion was written on his face.

“This case is different. He is no one of the Others, he’s a normal human and he has hurt Felix before. We can’t be sure that he won’t do something like this again. I won’t risk your safety.”

“He hasn’t hurt me! That was my brother!”, Felix tried to defend Changbin, who seemed to think about a proper way to react. For the moment he just stayed silent, watching how things progressed.

“Am I not a ‘normal’ human, too? You almost react like Seungcheol when we first met”, Minho intervened coldly, adding a quiet “No offense” in the direction of **Seventeen** ’s leader, who just nodded without saying a word. All of **Seventeen** stayed quiet at this, knowing that this wasn’t their place to speak. This was a decision Chan and the rest of **Stray Kids** had to make.

“You are different”, Chan sighed, “You’ve grown up with us, even as one of us. You have experienced how we are treated at first hand. You are one of the Others even though you have no ability.”

“And still I am human”, Minho said, although hardly audible.

Chan didn’t understand why he stepped in for the boy. Minho actually was one of the members of the group who seemed to hate ‘normal’ humans the most. What led him to act like this?

However, when Chan looked around the room, he noticed the confused and almost hostile gazes of his friends. Were all of them against sending Changbin away?

“He already has been here for almost a month and hasn’t done anything to harm us. I don’t think that he means any danger. Actually, of what he has told us, he might not have been treated much better than Felix before him”, Jisung added to the discussion.

Chan shook his head at these words. How could they be so blind? Letting someone new in their group meant danger. **Seventeen** was a completely different case as they already had been a formed group when they had arrived, more importantly - consisting of members of the Others. But accepting this boy meant accepting him as a part of **Stray Kids** , not only as a guest. And Felix already trusted him too much despite what had happened several years ago. He didn’t want the boy to get hurt again. He wished for a safe and happy life for all of them.

“I can’t accept him here any longer. He means danger.” Saying this, he wasn’t able to look the others in the eyes anymore.

“Woojin would have-“, their youngest began, but was interrupted by Chan’s furious voice: “But Woojin isn’t here, so don’t mention him!” Noticing the younger’s upset reaction, he immediately regretted talking to him so harshly. He knew that they all still missed Woojin and no one really wanted to accept that the young man wouldn’t come back. Yet, Chan just wasn’t able to bear hearing someone mentioning him.

“I’m sorry, but just don’t mention him anymore, please…”, he said apologetically, facing the floor. Normally he was a rather controlled person but this topic was one of his weak points.

“Do you really believe what you’ve said or are you just scared?”, Felix asked with a disturbingly, though accusing voice.

“What do you mean?”, Chan asked, not fully understanding Felix’s intention.

“Are you sure this isn’t about you and Woojin? I don’t know what exactly has happened between you two before he left, but I’ve already told you that Changbin hasn’t hurt me and won’t do so. Unlike you, everyone has talked to him while he was here and they seem to believe me. If you can’t trust him, why can’t you at least trust me?”

It took all of Chan’s self-control to hold himself back. He had just asked not to mention Woojin and yet Felix had done so again, just a few seconds later.

“So, you all want him to stay?”, he asked, looking around so that he wouldn’t miss even the slightest change of emotion on his friend’s faces. Although not all of them were as convinced as Felix and Jeongin, they all decided against sending Changbin away. Even some of **Seventeen** ’s members appeared like they wanted to support Changbin and Felix.

Glaring in Changbin’s direction, Chan finally gave in. “Okay, as you wish. Welcome as a part of Stray Kids.”

With these words he left the hut and entered the woods, not looking back again. He had to be alone for a moment, he needed to calm down and the others knew that. They would stay in the hut and hopefully hold **Seventeen** ’s members back, too, to give him some space.


End file.
